


Taking the Train

by pastel_x_tea



Category: Class of Cardinal Sin - Covey (Album)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Depressing, During Canon, Gen, Ghosts, Hallucinations, International Fanworks Day 2021, Morally Ambiguous Character, Out of Body Experiences, Possibly Not Canon Compliant, Spirits, idk what to call it, is it ever a happy story with the CCS, kind of?, no happy ending, not beta read we die like jamie, sorry my dudes, that should be a tag, weirdly wholesome, yeah this isn't a happy story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastel_x_tea/pseuds/pastel_x_tea
Summary: Before Penny robs the store, Jamie takes the train.





	Taking the Train

Jamie's eyes fluttered open, greeting him to the sight of diesel-stained concrete. This certainly didn't look like a concert.

_A phone call... a concert... a fox... a crackling, and a sudden burst of heat..._

The memories were fuzzy, but he quickly pieced together how exactly he ended up here as he pried his face from the metal rails. Black splotches coated his vision as he got to his feet. A side effect of the massive electrocution he'd just endured, no doubt. Still, how fortunate, he thought, that he'd only been electrocuted. A few minutes more and he'd certainly have been hit by the train. As he glanced around for a way to pull himself up, he resigned himself to the fact that he was in no shape to go to a concert. Perhaps just a pop by the corner store before bed would do.

The only problem with this plan was that visiting the corner store requires a functioning body.

And Jamie was currently staring down at his own body, still crumpled on the train tracks.

His legs were splayed out, while his arms were folded beneath his head, fingers draped over the cold metal tracks. His expression was calm, tranquil, even. His gills were still moving- his breaths shallow, yet present. Were it not for the uncomfortable position his body had fallen in, one could be forgiven to think he was simply sleeping, and had chosen a very poor place to nap.

A flash of orange flitted through his vision as the fox he'd been helping merrily hopped off the track and back to the safety of the concrete landing.

"You're going to die." The fox said matter-of-factly.

Out-of-body experiences. Talking foxes. _The fox is right,_ Jamie thought. _I_ am _going to die. Or I already have._

People who haven't died before greatly overestimate the impact your impending mortality has on you. When they imagine the minutes before death, they see grief, anger, shouting and crying and the thoughts of regret after regret running through your mind as you watch your own death encroach.

Those who've died know better. In those precious few moments, there is no anger. There is no sadness. There is simply resignation. Resignation and profound, echoing emptiness.

That is why Jamie did not think of a way to get out. (He wouldn't have found one, either way.) He did not ask how to save himself, or try to clamor his way back into his body, or even think to ask why. 

He simply sought one small piece of solace. "Will it hurt?"

"Yes, of course," the fox replied, for it could never lie to an Inherently Good Soul. "But you won't remember it for long."

He bent to touch his face, to find that his hand passed through it completely. "Are they... is anyone... even going to find me?"

"Most of you." The fox studied Jamie with its beady black eyes. "The more resilient parts. Perhaps parts of a head. Your ribcage. Torn clothes. Arms, legs." It bent its head back to sniff the air. "The soul is different."

"My parents can't see me like that." Jamie looked down at his body, imagining it mangled beneath the wheels of a train. Skull crushed, bones splintered, clothes tattered and stuck to the tracks by miscellaneous bits of gore. An entire existence reduced to a red smear on the railroad tracks. "Harris can't see me like that."

"He won't."

Jamie spun to the fox, who was idly licking its paw as if it hadn't said such an ominous thing at all. "What do you mean?"

"Inherently Good Souls aren't often long for this world." The fox stared into the distance. Its eyes seemed to water. It could have been a simple trick of the light. "You are a fortunate pair. Not many get to walk to the afterlife hand in hand with a soulmate."

Jamie wanted to ask so many questions. _What do you mean? Where is Harris? What's happening? Can I save him? Can I send him a sign, like dead people always do in movies? Is it already too late?_ Eventually, only one question made its way past his lips. "Where will we go?"

The fox perked up suddenly, and Jamie couldn't tell if it was reacting to his question or the rumble of the train approaching. "That's not for me to answer."

"Heaven? Hell?"

"It's far more complicated than that." The fox bowed its head once more. "Good Souls don't always find good places. Bad Souls don't always get what they deserve. Train conductors don't always stop."

"Oh, that's..." Jamie spun, looking for headlights. He saw them, in the distance, about the size of snowflakes. But they were only getting bigger. He took a deep breath. "That's not his fault. Conductors can't just stop."

"He keeps going for another 50 miles after he hits you. Assumes you're a vagrant... 'just' a vagrant. But that's neither here nor there." The fox gazed in Jamie's direction, moonlight glinting off its onyx eyes. "I'm not here for him."

Jamie suddenly found himself on the concrete landing with the fox, his body a few feet behind and a few feet below. 

And he started laughing. He laughed because he was grateful the fox had gotten him out of that pit, because he had no clue how to climb out of a pit when you simply pass through tangible objects. He laughed imagining what Harris would say when they found each other. Something like 'You died saving a random animal. Can't say I'm surprised.', with that teasing, affectionate smile that tugged at his lips and an equally mischievous and adoring fire in his eyes, Jamie was sure of it. He laughed at the absurdity of waking up out of your body and having a philosophical conversation with a fox, and laughed at how quickly he'd accepted it.

His smile stayed as he knelt and extended a hand to the fox. The fox accepted his gesture by pressing its cheek into Jamie's hand. They both barely noticed the train roaring by.

"I always imagined you as a skeleton in a big black coat."

The fox's eyes glinted. "I am not Death. I'm simply an old friend."

"Could I meet them sometime?"

"In due time. But we must be off." The fox began to slink away, twitching its head as an invitation that Jamie quickly accepted. "I'm afraid it's a very busy night."

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a mess. As with my last C.C.S. fic, I wrote this from 1 to 3 a.m., which is usually when I get my weird fic inspiration anyway.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


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